


Lessons

by thebratqueen



Series: Ep 5 Trailer Fics [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Telltale Series (Video Game)
Genre: Episode 5 Spoilers, M/M, Slash, Vigilante Trailer, as platonic as canon is anyway, could be pre-slash, could be read as platonic i suppose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-23
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-04-06 20:30:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14064978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebratqueen/pseuds/thebratqueen
Summary: He wouldn’t be the up and coming vigilante that he was today if he hadn’t had encouragement. It was now his responsibility to encourage others in turn.





	Lessons

Outreach was a key part of being a hero, John - _Joker_ \- figured. After all, he wouldn’t be the up and coming vigilante that he was today if he hadn’t had encouragement. It was now his responsibility to encourage others in turn. 

Finding people to join his gang - did heroes have gangs? Maybe they were called something else when you were good. He’d stick with gang for now. Anyway, finding them had been easy. 

_Teaching_ , on the other hand...

“Okay!” he clapped his hands together in an encouraging fashion. “Let’s take it from the top! What do we stand for?”

His three - gang members? Minions? It wasn’t co-workers, was it? Oo! Sidekicks! - repeated dutifully, “Justice.”

“Good,” he said. He gave them all a big smile, full of teeth. “And who does _not_ stand for Justice?”

“The Agency,” they said, in unison. 

“ _Very_ good.” He took a breath. This was the big one. “So who do we fight?”

“The Agency!”

“Anyone who doesn’t stand for Justice!”

“Batman!”

Joker took a breath. Then another one. “Okay. A for effort on ‘Agency’ or ‘anyone who doesn’t stand for Justice.’ We probably need to workshop that and make it pithy. Something worthy of a catchphrase, you know? But good stuff. Pats on the back for you two.

“As for _you_ ,” Joker turned his gaze on Willy. “The answer is _not_ _Batman!_ We fight _with_ Batman, we do not _fight_ Batman.” _  
_

Willy squinted at him. “What’s the difference?”

One of the other sidekicks opened their mouth to speak but Joker made a sharp hand motion to cut them off. “Fighting _with_ Batman means we _help_ him. _Fighting_ him means being against him, means he gets _hurt_. We don’t _like it_ when Batman gets _hurt_ , Willy. We _like_ him.”

Willy mulled this over. “We do? Never met the guy personally. Seemed kinda like a jerk to - “

Joker grabbed Willy by the front of his shirt and hauled him out of his chair. “ _I_ like him, Willy. Which means if he ever gets hurt I will take it _very, very personally._ Understood?”

“I guess,” Willy said. “Makes no never mind to me who we fight.”

“When I say personally,” Joker told him, lowering his voice to what he liked to think was a Dark Knight-like growl. “I mean _violently_. And I will hold each and every one of you responsible if Batman gets hurt and any of you could’ve stopped it. _Understood?”  
_

The other sidekicks murmured their assent. Willy did too, after flinching at the look in Joker’s eyes. 

“Right, right. Batman doesn’t get hurt. Got it,” Willy said.

Joker let go. He smoothed out the wrinkles his grip had created in Willy’s shirt. “Good! Well done, Willy. We’ll make a hero of you yet!”

“’Least I can put up with Batman,” Willy said as he returned to his seat. “ _Bruce Wayne_ , on the other hand - “

The other two sidekicks fled as they saw Joker reaching for his weapons. 

Sometimes lessons had to hurt.


End file.
